Just got off the phone with Gary from the 92nd Street Y. He was the most pleasant salesman I've ever spoken to, and should get some kind of raise or promotion, if anyone from the organization is reading. The conversation went something like this: Amanda [sees "92nd Street Y" on Caller ID, figures it's telemarketing, considers screening, picks up anyway because she's procrastinating pestering a photographer today.]: This is Amanda?Gary: Hi Amanda, this is Gary calling from the 92nd Street Y - I hope this is a good time?Amanda: Good a time as … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2010
Fabulous
I think the last and only time I heard the word "French" used as a non-adjective and non-language reference was something to do with Emily Ainsworth and Scott Simon allegedly "frenching" in the New Canaan movie theater in 8th grade. It was probably also used at one point or another in Grease, but when I first watched the movie version, I was too young to know what any of the Bad Teenage Kid words meant. Since February seems to be Use Perfectly Fine Words in Extremely Weird Ways Month, though, I guess this makes sense. From the New York City … [Read more...]
The Internet is the Best Thing
Or, There's An Audience For EverythingVia my friend Joe: … [Read more...]
OK, good – now I have a goal.
It has come to my attention via Twitter that The Metropolitan Opera is allowing publicists on stage. OK, OK - so it's just one really, really important and fancy publicist who actually handles The Met's press, but if you think that's stopping me from yearning/lobbying for a La Bohème walk-on townsperson, working girl, or shopkeeper role, you, sir or madam, are sorely mistaken. Naturally, his appearance made it into the press. From Page Six of the New York Post:Public relations legend Howard Rubenstein made his Metropolitan Opera debut Saturday … [Read more...]
Assorted
Good morning, starshines. Here are some miscellaneous marketing matters for a Monday. Just as I'm sure journalists are frustrated when publicists pitch them a feature on an artist who was written up in their publication less than a year ago (etc.), publicists want to, in turn, tear their hair out when journalists request interviews with artists to preview concerts and have done zero-to-no research. "Research" is actually a bit strong, here: they have neither looked at the provided press materials nor spent three minutes on this little thing I, … [Read more...]
Talk to me about BBC Music Magazine
As often as possible, on Fridays I will post interviews with colleagues from the field who are far more knowledgeable than I am on various marketing and publicity topics. In honor (-our) of all the gray days we've been having in New York, this week we have an interview with a Proper British Person! Here's BBC Music Magazine editor Oliver Condy on not bringing computers to the beach, Tweeting about the World Cup (...not), and how American journalists need to toughen up. Oliver Condy has been the editor of BBC Music Magazine for over five … [Read more...]
Everything good needs replacing
I went to see Parsons Dance at The Joyce last night with co-AJ blogger Judith Dobrzynski, and was immediately brought back to a simpler time when the last Parsons piece, In The End, opened with Dave Matthews Band's Satellite. You know a band's popular when even I--no older siblings, ballet, harp, matching colored socks to turtlenecks, Star Trek, Boy Meets World, the "Disney Afternoon", Narnia--had a copy of Under The Table and Dreaming. A quick gander at the actually not un-cool Dave Matthews Band website and the full-page ad for a Citi Field … [Read more...]
How the other…half?…lives
A friend sent me this over a month ago, but I still think it's worth posting. It's Up in the Air director Jason Reitman's coverage of well, the press coverage for the movie, posted by The Awl. Lost In The Air: The Jason Reitman Press Tour Simulator from Jason Reitman on Vimeo.Whoa whoa whoa - the press junket for the last classical CD you worked on wasn't like this? C'mon: it was kind of like this, right? REALLY? Not at all, huh? Well this is awkward. … [Read more...]
Was I not literally just saying this
My friend and sometimes Blog Comment Nemesis Judd Greenstein just sent me the following comment from "Classical Musings," critic Andrew Druckenbrod's blog for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/classical/archive/2010/02/14/pso-trajectory-scrutinized-in-carnegie-hall-return.aspx?CommentPosted=true"Andrew, your idea is interesting and makes some sense to me. Shoot, I wish Hilary Hahn were bringing the Schoenberg Concerto here in May rather than the Sibelius (and I love the Sibelius concerto). I am … [Read more...]
East Coast/West Coast Killas
This time last year, I fully embarrassed myself by arriving late (typical) to the New York Philharmonic's 09-10 season announcement. Eric invited me, since he's singing with them this season (give it up for Le Grand Macabre, woot woot, what what), and being tardy would have been slightly less unprofessional, I guess, if the press conference had not been ON THE STAGE of Avery Fisher Hall. I also didn't do myself any favors by wearing these totally inappropriate boots, and as a musician I was telling this story to earlier today reminded me, that … [Read more...]
Talk to me about Metropolis Ensemble
In the immortal works of Todd Rundgren, "Iiii don't-want-to-work, I just wanna write-on-this-blog-all day." That's not entirely true: I love my job, but it does make things I also like to do--coming up with interview questions for this blog, to throw out an example--more of a challenge. But I'm going to be better! It's my Valentine's Day Resolution. So, Team Life's a Pitch, here we have the return of the Friday interviews, where I ask the Tough Questions of colleagues who are far more knowledgeable than I am on various marketing and publicity … [Read more...]
What to expect when you’re expecting
UPDATE 2/12, 3:30pm: Since I've heard them all before ((expected)), I didn't feel the need to stream the pieces on the site described below. However, in an e mail exchange about something entirely different, a colleague at another orchestra wrote the following: And I just read your blog post about the eye-scaldingly horrible Philly Orchestra campaign. You know what's really unexpectifying? Clicking the Tchaikovsky 4 button on the media player and hearing Mahler 6. Right. So that happened. OK, here's my original post: ________ I really don't … [Read more...]
No time for losers
I got into an actual fight with someone about a year ago on the subject of whether or not baseball was a niche. My pro-niche argument was that every industry could be defined as niche to some extent. Yes, some niches are bigger than others, but there are many people in the world who have never heard of baseball, there are even more people in the world who could not name one baseball team, even more than that who could not name one current player, and certainly more than that who could not recite any one team's starting line-up. Unsurprisingly, … [Read more...]
New is different than young
Two weeks ago, Hilary and I went to LA so she could film The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. You can read all about how I didn't think her appearance would sell any albums here, and watch her performance on Hulu if you missed it. But I can't imagine any of *my* readers missed it. For me, the strangest part of this experience, perhaps besides watching Hilary Hahn and Andy Richter get their make-up done at the same time, was that I, Classical Music Publicist in NYC Who Doesn't Really Watch Late-Night TV Unless Frasier and X-Files Re-Runs Count, … [Read more...]